Project Handel: Messiah
2nd Round
Please choose one of the artworks below.
17
Mixed Media
For this piece, I decided to go with a rather unconventional viewpoint for the Ascension, a pivotal and iconic moment from Handel's Messiah. With a viewpoint provided in the first person, as opposed to the more common third person, my piece has let the viewer look through the eyes of divinity. The piece utilizes both acrylic paint and digital painting to establish a sense of modernity and texture. It is through this combination that the paint can show through, each brushstroke defining a fold in Jesus's clothing. I decided to go through with this alternate angle when it came to exploring a moment that has not exactly been viewed at such a perspective.
19
Ink and Digital
My piece is inspired by the lines in Isaiah 60:2–3. I also took inspiration from my experience attending Catholic school to help reinforce my concept. The idea to style the piece as a stained glass window came from the times I would zone out during weekly mass and just look at the stained glass windows and the reliefs that depicted the 13 stages of the cross. I chose to depict Jesus as a brown man with curly hair because I never really accepted the idea of Jesus being a man with fair skin and blue eyes and much prefer what Jesus might have actually looked like given the location’s racial and ethnic background.
22
Ink
Handel’s Messiah holds a lot of history, which is why I based my piece off of Handel’s process rather than the music itself. This period of time was grueling on Handel, a time where he only thought of music and barely ate. My piece is specifically inspired by the moment where Handel finished writing the Hallelujah Chorus of Messiah. It is believed that Handel cried out to his servant with tears in his eyes that he had seen Heaven and the great God himself. My piece shows Handel sitting at his desk surrounded by a snowy forest with God and his angels amongst the stars above him. I wanted to create a dreamlike atmosphere that would evoke some of the emotion that Handel must have experienced while triumphing through his composition.
Please choose one of the artworks below.
51
Digital
This is a complex piece full of mythic themes. When I think about the evocation of mythos in Messiah, I think of grand ruins of legend that we can neither visit nor truly imagine in their own time. It brings to mind the works of Caspar David Friedrich, from which I have always found a great enchantment and by which I pay homage here. Against this gentle peach-colored sky the warm sun reveals cold stone edifices in a desolate land. It is a landscape that raises more questions than answers and leaves us searching among its remains for greater understanding.
52
Acrylic Paint
This piece is inspired by the harmonious instruments of Handel’s Messiah. While listening to the music, I thought of the colors and lights of Jerusalem, as well as the general wonder of the city. I felt it would be best to capture Jerusalem during the evening so that I could display how magical the city looks with the yellow and pink colors of a sunset highlighting the massive forms of the city. The tall buildings and many shapes of Jerusalem were an exciting experience to paint, as I was able to make brush strokes that I felt captured the structures and many colors of the scene.
Please choose three of the artworks below.
12
Acrylic
The majesty of the Lord is compared to that of the nature's morning. Light bringing to darkness. The cold morning air flows contrasting with the warmth of the sun. The sun brings life to those who follow. Like a journey the feeling of a mountain hike to view a sunrise makes one view in awe.
17
Mixed Media
For this piece, I decided to go with a rather unconventional viewpoint for the Ascension, a pivotal and iconic moment from Handel's Messiah. With a viewpoint provided in the first person, as opposed to the more common third person, my piece has let the viewer look through the eyes of divinity. The piece utilizes both acrylic paint and digital painting to establish a sense of modernity and texture. It is through this combination that the paint can show through, each brushstroke defining a fold in Jesus's clothing. I decided to go through with this alternate angle when it came to exploring a moment that has not exactly been viewed at such a perspective.
19
Ink and Digital
My piece is inspired by the lines in Isaiah 60:2–3. I also took inspiration from my experience attending Catholic school to help reinforce my concept. The idea to style the piece as a stained glass window came from the times I would zone out during weekly mass and just look at the stained glass windows and the reliefs that depicted the 13 stages of the cross. I chose to depict Jesus as a brown man with curly hair because I never really accepted the idea of Jesus being a man with fair skin and blue eyes and much prefer what Jesus might have actually looked like given the location’s racial and ethnic background.
22
Ink
Handel’s Messiah holds a lot of history, which is why I based my piece off of Handel’s process rather than the music itself. This period of time was grueling on Handel, a time where he only thought of music and barely ate. My piece is specifically inspired by the moment where Handel finished writing the Hallelujah Chorus of Messiah. It is believed that Handel cried out to his servant with tears in his eyes that he had seen Heaven and the great God himself. My piece shows Handel sitting at his desk surrounded by a snowy forest with God and his angels amongst the stars above him. I wanted to create a dreamlike atmosphere that would evoke some of the emotion that Handel must have experienced while triumphing through his composition.
33
Digital
Handel's Messiah was written with the intention of exploring the "mystery of divinity". I felt a connection to this idea, to the idea that divinity cannot be explained or fully understood by any earthly medium. I chose to depict two ends of the growth of Jesus and the continued "divinity" of his form as he grows into a larger than life figure and becomes shrouded in this mystery.
40
Digital
What stood out to me the most while listening to Handel’s Messiah was the consistent presence of both agitation and comfort. I appreciated the fact that this juxtaposition was one that anyone could relate to whether it was through religious context or not. In my piece, I explore this concept through the use of light, color, and gesture. The main figure in the piece, which is representative of despair, is turned toward the darkness and unaware of the comforting hand, representative of hope, reaching toward him. I wanted to leave the owner of the hand ambiguous so viewers could have their own interpretations that they could relate to.
51
Digital
This is a complex piece full of mythic themes. When I think about the evocation of mythos in Messiah, I think of grand ruins of legend that we can neither visit nor truly imagine in their own time. It brings to mind the works of Caspar David Friedrich, from which I have always found a great enchantment and by which I pay homage here. Against this gentle peach-colored sky the warm sun reveals cold stone edifices in a desolate land. It is a landscape that raises more questions than answers and leaves us searching among its remains for greater understanding.
52
Acrylic Paint
This piece is inspired by the harmonious instruments of Handel’s Messiah. While listening to the music, I thought of the colors and lights of Jerusalem, as well as the general wonder of the city. I felt it would be best to capture Jerusalem during the evening so that I could display how magical the city looks with the yellow and pink colors of a sunset highlighting the massive forms of the city. The tall buildings and many shapes of Jerusalem were an exciting experience to paint, as I was able to make brush strokes that I felt captured the structures and many colors of the scene.
63
Digital
When thinking about the characteristics of innocence and purity, many beliefs associate these with children. As for parents and others that are in a child's life, their influence is what steers a child into differentiate between what is right/good and what is wrong/evil. This piece is to represent the relationship between adults and children and how children are essentially guided "blindly" into becoming a person of good or evil in our world.
66
Embroidery floss
After becoming disenchanted with traditional illustration materials, I wanted to figure out a way to fulfill this project using a more hands on material, such as embroidery. This entirely embroidered stained glass window features a pair of angel wings, a halo, and a cross, and was made out of many different colors and types of embroidery floss. This was the product of countless hours, many broken needles, and multiple emergency runs to craft stores.